2009-02-19, 03:46 AM
I've been doing a fair bit of research on 4th job archer building, but most of the stuff I've been finding is about bowmasters, taking into account SE20's initial rarity, etc. Marksmen aren't almost entirely geared toward maximizing the damage of a single attack, which makes me believe that it's much more difficult to effectively build a marksman than to do the same for a bowmaster, which I think seems just to be based on math and common sense. I wanted to hear others' opinions in this day and age specifically about marksmen (hopefully from people with first-hand experience), taking into account known future content, and so, this thread is born =p
Anyhow, I'm totally open to all kinds of critique on anything I say here. So, here's my planned SP distribution. By the way, I'm quite sure I can get my hands on any mastery book by the time I need it, so disregard the availability/price of any of them for the time being. Also, I'm pretty sure the new kMST updates and time temple will be released by the time I actually start maxing pierce, so assume those are released too.
120: 3 Sharp Eyes
121: 5 Sharp Eyes, 1 Marksman Boost
122: 7 Sharp Eyes, 1 Frostprey
123: 3 Marksman Boost, 1 Dragons Breath
124: 6 Marksman Boost
125: 9 Sharp Eyes, 1 Snipe
126: 9 Marksman Boost
127: 12 Marksman Boost
128: 15 Marksman Boost
129: 18 Marksman Boost
130: 21 Marksman Boost
131: 24 Marksman Boost
132: 27 Marksman Boost
133: 12 Sharp Eyes
134: 15 Sharp Eyes
135: 3 Piercing Arrow
136: 6 Piercing Arrow
137: 9 Piercing Arrow
138: 12 Piercing Arrow
139: 15 Piercing Arrow
140: 18 Piercing Arrow
141: 21 Piercing Arrow
142: 22 Piercing Arrow, 3 Snipe
143: 6 Snipe
144: 9 Snipe
145: 12 Snipe
146: 15 Snipe
147: 18 Snipe
148: 21 Snipe
149: 24 Snipe
150: 27 Snipe
151: 30 Snipe
152: 18 Sharp Eyes
153: 21 Sharp Eyes
154: 24 Sharp Eyes
155: 27 Sharp Eyes
156: 29 Sharp Eyes, 23 Piercing Arrow
157: 26 Piercing Arrow
158: 29 Piercing Arrow
159: 30 Marksman Boost
160: 30 Sharp Eyes, 30 Piercing Arrow, 1 Blind
Okay, time for some explaining. I opt to get 3 sharp eyes right off the bat because I don't think I can deal with a timer shorter than 30 seconds. I know that the first point in sharp eyes gives a very significant boost, but I feel that I need to pump it up to a 30-second timer so that I'd actually be able to use it efficiently. The reasoning for the next few levels is fairly obvious, pumping up sharp eyes to level 9 quickly for that decent timer and setting up marksman boost at optimal levels. For the 1-pointer skills, I feel that frostprey takes priority over dragon's breath, which takes priority over snipe. This works out perfectly because if I remember correctly, this is roughly the order of difficulty in obtaining these skills. After 125, I start getting marksman boost to 27 for that 90% mastery and +9 attack, leaving sharp eyes at level 9 due to its decent timer. I feel that marksman boost is much more valuable than sharp eyes because I think that the mastery boost along with the attack boost is much more important that the added critical rates (correct me if I'm wrong here). In addition, marksman boost is critical to pierce because it relies much more on minimum damage than criticals to produce better average damage. After marksman boost is done for the moment, I go for level 15 sharp eyes to lengthen the timer a bit more and to give me tons of time to pass a sharp eyes 30 book. Then, I go straight for pierce without maxing sharp eyes for the moment. The reason for this is that I think that the new 1-second pierce will quicken my training a bit more than maxed sharp eyes. Plus, it looks like a fun skill, and I'll probably be starving for a new attack by then. Another reason for delaying sharp eyes at the moment is that it doesn't benefit pierce all that much due to the fact that pierce mainly relies on heavy base damage, not added critical damage (again, correct me if I'm wrong). After upping pierce to 22, reason being to match up to snipe's growth, I start maxing snipe. I'm still delaying sharp eyes because I suspect that I'll be training mostly with pierce (1-second) by this point, which sharp eyes doesn't help all that much. Instead of boosting strafe damage with sharp eyes to take out strays, I pump snipe to instantly take them out, assuming they don't appear more often than within 4 seconds. I also think that maxed snipe would help my damage more at bosses than 15 more points into sharp eyes in its place would. Anyways, sharp eyes finally gets maxed after snipe, followed by pierce and marksman boost.
Sorry for the wall of text, but these are the specific things I'd like to know:
1. Is it a dumb idea to delay sharp eyes for so long?
2. Marksman Boost takes priority to be maxed first, right? (of course, after decent timer SE and 1-pointer skills)
3. How much a boost is 21 -> 30 Pierce really? Is it worth completely maxing out pierce to delay snipe by three levels?
Thanks for reading =]
Anyhow, I'm totally open to all kinds of critique on anything I say here. So, here's my planned SP distribution. By the way, I'm quite sure I can get my hands on any mastery book by the time I need it, so disregard the availability/price of any of them for the time being. Also, I'm pretty sure the new kMST updates and time temple will be released by the time I actually start maxing pierce, so assume those are released too.
120: 3 Sharp Eyes
121: 5 Sharp Eyes, 1 Marksman Boost
122: 7 Sharp Eyes, 1 Frostprey
123: 3 Marksman Boost, 1 Dragons Breath
124: 6 Marksman Boost
125: 9 Sharp Eyes, 1 Snipe
126: 9 Marksman Boost
127: 12 Marksman Boost
128: 15 Marksman Boost
129: 18 Marksman Boost
130: 21 Marksman Boost
131: 24 Marksman Boost
132: 27 Marksman Boost
133: 12 Sharp Eyes
134: 15 Sharp Eyes
135: 3 Piercing Arrow
136: 6 Piercing Arrow
137: 9 Piercing Arrow
138: 12 Piercing Arrow
139: 15 Piercing Arrow
140: 18 Piercing Arrow
141: 21 Piercing Arrow
142: 22 Piercing Arrow, 3 Snipe
143: 6 Snipe
144: 9 Snipe
145: 12 Snipe
146: 15 Snipe
147: 18 Snipe
148: 21 Snipe
149: 24 Snipe
150: 27 Snipe
151: 30 Snipe
152: 18 Sharp Eyes
153: 21 Sharp Eyes
154: 24 Sharp Eyes
155: 27 Sharp Eyes
156: 29 Sharp Eyes, 23 Piercing Arrow
157: 26 Piercing Arrow
158: 29 Piercing Arrow
159: 30 Marksman Boost
160: 30 Sharp Eyes, 30 Piercing Arrow, 1 Blind
Okay, time for some explaining. I opt to get 3 sharp eyes right off the bat because I don't think I can deal with a timer shorter than 30 seconds. I know that the first point in sharp eyes gives a very significant boost, but I feel that I need to pump it up to a 30-second timer so that I'd actually be able to use it efficiently. The reasoning for the next few levels is fairly obvious, pumping up sharp eyes to level 9 quickly for that decent timer and setting up marksman boost at optimal levels. For the 1-pointer skills, I feel that frostprey takes priority over dragon's breath, which takes priority over snipe. This works out perfectly because if I remember correctly, this is roughly the order of difficulty in obtaining these skills. After 125, I start getting marksman boost to 27 for that 90% mastery and +9 attack, leaving sharp eyes at level 9 due to its decent timer. I feel that marksman boost is much more valuable than sharp eyes because I think that the mastery boost along with the attack boost is much more important that the added critical rates (correct me if I'm wrong here). In addition, marksman boost is critical to pierce because it relies much more on minimum damage than criticals to produce better average damage. After marksman boost is done for the moment, I go for level 15 sharp eyes to lengthen the timer a bit more and to give me tons of time to pass a sharp eyes 30 book. Then, I go straight for pierce without maxing sharp eyes for the moment. The reason for this is that I think that the new 1-second pierce will quicken my training a bit more than maxed sharp eyes. Plus, it looks like a fun skill, and I'll probably be starving for a new attack by then. Another reason for delaying sharp eyes at the moment is that it doesn't benefit pierce all that much due to the fact that pierce mainly relies on heavy base damage, not added critical damage (again, correct me if I'm wrong). After upping pierce to 22, reason being to match up to snipe's growth, I start maxing snipe. I'm still delaying sharp eyes because I suspect that I'll be training mostly with pierce (1-second) by this point, which sharp eyes doesn't help all that much. Instead of boosting strafe damage with sharp eyes to take out strays, I pump snipe to instantly take them out, assuming they don't appear more often than within 4 seconds. I also think that maxed snipe would help my damage more at bosses than 15 more points into sharp eyes in its place would. Anyways, sharp eyes finally gets maxed after snipe, followed by pierce and marksman boost.
Sorry for the wall of text, but these are the specific things I'd like to know:
1. Is it a dumb idea to delay sharp eyes for so long?
2. Marksman Boost takes priority to be maxed first, right? (of course, after decent timer SE and 1-pointer skills)
3. How much a boost is 21 -> 30 Pierce really? Is it worth completely maxing out pierce to delay snipe by three levels?
Thanks for reading =]